Many coin collectors are only aware of the 1971 Tunku Abdul Rahman non proof and proof gold coins. In fact there is another interesting pair of silver and gold coin medallion issued in 1985 on our ex premier Tunku Abdul Rahman or better known as BAPA MALAYSIA.

These Tunku Abdul Rahman silver and gold medallions are of very exclusive limited edition which were issued in February 1985 by Diner Club and minted in Germany. The official launch of these commemorative medallions was officiated by Dr Tun Mathathir and foreword by Tun Badawi then the Education Minister.(SEE BELOW TWO NEWSPAPER CUTTING FROM NEWS STRAITS TIMES DATED 6TH FEBRUARY 1985)

The 1976 Conservation or better known locally as Tapir gold coin alone whether it is brilliant uncirculated ( non proof ) or proof is the most sought after Malaysian gold coin for both local and worldwide collectors. The non proof gold coin has a mintage of 2894 pieces whilst the proof gold coin version has only 508 pieces

Below is the even more sought after 1976 Conservation PROOF SET OF 3 comprising the three (3) pieces of legal tender $500 Tapir gold coin, 15 Ringgit Seladang/Wildebeest silver coin and the 25 Ringgit Enggang/Hornbill silver coin.

The box containing the 1976 Conservation Proof Set of 3 viz blue color and red color box { Blue from our Local Bank Negara and red from UK ??}

1976 Conservation Proof Set of 3 – The original empty Inner box containing the three (3) coins

The 1976 Conservation Proof Set of 3 with all three certificate of authencity an coins

Clearer picture of the group of 3 coins in this 1976 Conservation Proof set of 3

Individual picture of the Cipan or Tapir Single proof gold coin

Incidentally the metal composition of the abovementioned proof set of 3 are as follows: 500 ringgit-Cipan (900 gold) Weight:33.437g Diameter:33.9mm

Other side of the Cipan or Tapir single gold coin

The smaller silver brother re 15 Ringgit SELANDANG or Wildebeest

15 ringgit-Seladang (925 silver) Weight:28.280g Diameter:38.61mm

The bigger size silver brother 25 ringgit ENGGANG or Hornbill in this 1976 conservation proof set of 3

25 ringgit-Enggang (925 silver) Weight:35.000g Diameter:42mm

The mintage for this 1976 Conservation Proof Set of 3 has a mintage of only 508 pieces. The box which contained these 3 coins is either blue color ( with Bank Negara logo) and red ( non local – from UK? )
The blue color box is relatively more expensive than the red box proof set of 3.

A little of details of these coins:

In 1975-1976 the Royal Mint UK together with the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and IUCNNR (World Wildlife Fund, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) issued a 12 pieces collection of silver proof coins, two each from from six different countries (Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sudan, Venezuela & Zaire).

As these 1976 Conservation coins are formed part of a link to such international scene hence this is one of the major reason for collectors worldwide to make a complete set of 24 pieces of gold coins and 48 pieces of silver coins set.

Another reason of course is that the Cipan or Tapir gold is the HEAVIEST MALAYSIA GOLD COIN minted re: Gross weight 33.45gm , 0.9 fine. Next is the 2000 Millennium non proof gold coin: Gross weight 25 gm,0.999 gm and the third is the 1971 Tuanku Abdul Rahman proof gold coin:18.66 gm, 0.917 fine and

Lastly perhaps this coin is of more than 30 years old and also enhanced with its limited mintage.

Append below an interesting FORGERY of the $10 1935 King George V Straits Settlements banknote. On the first look it looks very real as it being soiled and being greatly circulated.

However the giveaway is especially the “scattered and demonic” tiger watermark. In a real straits settlements banknote we should able to see a very distinguished tiger watermark. Also the forgery seems to have a very distinguished color ( picture 1) compared to the original (picture 2)

FORGERY re color and hardly able to see tiger watermark

A real copy of $10 1935 banknote

FORGERY -the other side of the $10 1935 banknote

Seems to be this forgery has been greatly circulated/used and grafiti being written on the bottom right side of the banknote.

Just a few days ago, another new catalogue book ” Coins & Banknotes Malaysia 1967 to 2015 was released into the market. I would think that Malaysia has a bit too much fair share of catalogue books coming out for our collectors re:

With these four(4) books, collectors whether coins and banknotes collectors have ample choice to do research as to what are the actual prices of their banknotes and coins are worth.

But one thing for sure, prices of Malaysian banknotes and coins are definitely overtaking inflation with prices rising sky high.( good or bad comments? ). This is proven again in this new and latest catalogue wherein prices of banknotes and coins whether they are the common one are increasing about 10 to 15% !. Actually I wish to see a catalogue book where prices of the common banknotes and coins are downsized instead of increasing – {ps: I dare not comment about the prices of scarce and rare banknotes as I am not expert in it}

Anyway lets hope that new collectors are not discourage by the ever increasing prices of our local banknotes and coins.

Lets now focus on some details of this new catalogue book:

Front cover of this book ( backcover advertises the author’s shop)

On the right top side of the front page of this book , it has a unique RED colour no eg A-1 0524 re 524 out of 3333 copy. However on the edge of this book ( not shown in the picture) First Edition was wrongly spelt as Editionn – quite a bad start especially for those who wish to keep this first edition in their library.

The size of this book is the same as the previous catalogue book ” Malaysia Coins & Banknotes 1967-2014 onwards” re with the same mintage of 3333 books and same selling price Rm38 each. This book has 171 pages compared to the earlier one (149 pages) because it incorporate prices of the Banknotes Special Serial Number re solid numbers and ladder number.

Sample of one of the inside pages of the book

Extra features incorporating CERTIFIED OR SLABBED PRICES

Though it corporates such nice feature of Certified/Graded Prices, I could not understand how things jives

Take for example the first row in the picture:

re: UNC Rm240 and then certified PMG for banknotes PMG67 Rm1540 so what is UNC ( I know it is uncirculated !!) but what grade is this quoted UNC in that column is that MS63 and below

Overall, this book needs a bit more polished up in terms of spelling, measurement and data like 1976 selandang and enggang being classified in 1969 and 1971 ; coins section still PMG grading or should it be NGC?

Incidentally coming to a different topic,currently there is a trend for collectors/traders to grade these banknotes/coins and then sell but hopefully buyers should take heed of the following:-

(a) just in case IF one bought the certified/graded item(s) at such exhorbitant prices ( 6 times and more of ungraded ) do you think that you can sell to other parties especially it is a very common item? and

(b) most collectors too are wise people, they would just buy uncirculated item and then go for the relevant certification.

Btw, currently there are a lot of certified coins BELOW MS66 being “thrown” into the market as real collectors understood such above logic and the true intention of slabbing/certification of real collectors are to get the best grade but traders took advantages to sell at extremely high prices!!! One fine day the bubble will burst and the market will be saturated with sellers with certified/grade items of MS64 and below.